-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Alexandre Vinokourov claimed Kazakhstan 's first medal at the London Olympics with gold in Saturday 's men 's cycling road race .

Much fancied home favorite Mark Cavendish finished a disappointing 29th as the British team struggled to meet pre-race expectations .

Colombia 's Rigoberto Uran took the silver , while bronze went to Alexander Kristoff from Norway .

The 38-year-old Vinokourov , who served a two-year ban for blood doping between 2007 and 2009 , announced after the race that he may retire from the sport after Wednesday 's cycling time trial .

`` I will still race in the time trial on Wednesday but I have the gold medal I wanted and after that I will consider retiring , '' said the Kazakh cyclist .

World champion Cavendish had been strongly tipped to finally claim the Olympic medal that had eluded him at the 2008 Games in Beijing , where he was the only member of Britain 's track cycling team to return from the games without a medal .

Despite the British team having control of the peloton throughout the race , they struggled to close the gap on the lead group and Cavendish was nowhere in sight as Vinokourov out sprinted Uran to the finish line in front of Buckingham Palace .

`` There was a group of 22 who got away and we could n't pull them back , '' said Cavendish .

`` I can be proud of how the lads rode . They have got nothing left in the tank .

Cavendish 's hopes appeared to have been boosted when rival Swiss sprinter Fabian Cancellara crashed , but the peloton could not close on the leading group .

With just under 10km to the finish line -- and a handy time advantage of 50 seconds -- the leading pack looked to be preparing for a sprint finish , but Uran made a break for it , and surprisingly Vinokourov was the only rider to respond .

As the two riders rounded the final corner , the Kazakh made the most of his rival slowing to look back to check for pursuers and launched a sprint to the line .

It was quickly clear that the Colombian had no answer to the Kazakh 's attack and Vinokourov had a big enough lead to ride across the line with his arms aloft .

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Kazakhstan 's Alexandre Vinokourov wins gold

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Colombian Rigoberto Uran claimed silver , Norway 's Alexander Kirstoff bronze

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World champion Mark Cavendish finishes a disappointing 29th